Swallowed blood... what's gonna happen??!

[arrlz]

I had a tonsillectomy about 13 days ago and early last night as I was napping I began to bleed but once I woke up and stopped it I realized that I had swallowed some of it. I don't know exactly how much but I did start burping a bunch afterwards that tasted like blood and right now my stomach is gurgling. I've been up ever since that since I can't sleep due to the anxiety but could anyone tell me if my body would be able to digest the blood? Or is vomiting inevitable? I also seemed to have now swallowed the blood clot that had formed...

[anna81]

Oh wow, that sounds nasty. I don't know anything about things like that but I wouldn't imagine it will make you v. Maybe it would be good to consult your doctor about the bleeding, it may need checking out.

[paulinek]

That really does sound nasty...if it helps though, I had a tooth extracted once and the post-care leaflets said that if there was bleeding to make sure you swallowed it and that you must not spit it out as that would make it carry on bleeding for longer (no idea how that works but that is what it said)

I'm sure it wouldn't make you vomit, it's just the thought of the fact that it is blood, but your stomach has no idea with what things are, it just digests them, iykwim? Like I'm sure if I knowingly ate something icky like offal I'd feel very sick but if I didn't know what it was then I wouldn't.

Get well soon

[Athena]

Don't worry humans can swallow tons of there own blood and not throw up blood has a tendency of making people nauseous so many people rather just v* then feel nauseous for a few hours til its digested not only that but people gross themselves out until they make themsleves sick so try not to overthink it too for an emetophob it should be easy to make it stay down we have strong wills and strong stomachs drink tea and water to help water it down and dissolve it, it will be digested and gone before you know it so just hang in there if it gets too bad take a gravol it will help take the sick feeling away. Best of wishes

[mdgirl1977]

same thing happened to me. I was 18, stupid wounds don't get stitched so it's easy to reopen. I swallowed a lot of blood. Nothing happened. Drink water to push it along. Not a huge deal unless it happens for a while (ie a day or two straight).

[blueridge212]

Yeah, drink some water to flush it out and you'll be fine. I get nosebleeds like crazy (thanks allergies) and I swallow blood frequently. If you swallow a lot you may feel queasy, and the burping is probably just from you swallowing air a lot (from the frequent swallowing - I feel like I'm saying that word a lot), but vomiting is certainly NOT inevitable. In fact, I would say it's pretty unlikely unless you just have a crazy sensitive stomach.

I hope you feel better!!

[emmalinda]

I did some research in my years as a dental assistant, (as this was a common worry) and I find out in order for any of your own blood to be quite bad for you, you'd have to swallow about a litre of it! So definitely not inevitable we always tell people to swallow their blood if it bleeds after extractions